AP - Consumers who haven't yet ordered Barnes & Noble's electronic book reader, the Nook, won't see one before Christmas.

AP - Sony's new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday.

AP - Some of the computer industry's biggest players — such as IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. — have wowed Wall Street this fall with stronger-than-expected profits.

AP - Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading al-Qaida's message to Muslims in the West. They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings.

AP - Selling a home without a real estate agent can save thousands of dollars in commission fees, but it can also be a painstaking, confusing task.

AP - Yahoo Inc. is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon in its latest attempt to get people to use its Internet search engine more frequently.

AFP - Austrian cattle farmers no longer have to travel long distances to sell or buy cattle: it can all be done at the click of a mouse, on a new auction website.

InfoWorld - Ruby, the popular open source dynamic language, is making headway not only on Java but also on the Windows and Mac platforms.

AFP - British mobile phone giant Vodafone Group Plc has sought an extra two months to reply to a two-billion-dollar Indian tax claim over its purchase of India's third-largest mobile operator.

AP - Moody's Investors Service downgraded ratings for Liberty Media Corp. subsidiary Liberty Media LLC on Friday. The changes come shortly after shareholders approved the formation of a new company out of DirecTV Group Inc. and some of Liberty's entertainment businesses.

PC World - Microsoft wants you on Xbox LIVE for the weekend with, of course, a view toward forever, and it's prepared to temporarily waive the cover fee to grab your attention.

Macworld.com - It was a banner week for stupid opinion pieces about Apple. Indeed, the Macalope had a hard time narrowing the field. He did eventually pick two lucky winners, but hed like to assure all the silly pundits who auditioned that they did horrible, horrible work and even though they didnt get selected,they shouldstill feel terrible about themselves. Before we wade into the muck, though, who wants to dancewith Microsoft?!

PC World - Everyone's all a-twitter over Google's newly announced operating system, Google Chrome OS. Some swear it'll be a hit; others are convinced it's destined for failure. Love it or hate it, though, this puppy's one tough piece of software to ignore.

Reuters - The auction for Nortel Network's optical networking and carrier ethernet business went into a second day on Saturday, after Ciena called for a break in the auction late on Friday, two sources said.

PC World - A Seattle computer security consultant says he's developed a new way to exploit a recently disclosed bug in the SSL protocol, used to secure communications on the Internet. The attack, while difficult to execute, could give attackers a very powerful phishing attack.

PC World - The open source version of Google Chrome OS was released on Thursday, and tech wizards didn't waste any time turning the code into a workable test version of the new operating system. If you don't want to wait until next year to see what's going on with Chrome OS, then follow this handy guide to find all the information you need to get the new system up and running on almost any computer.

Macworld.com - Though you may think us to be iPhone fans all the time, we really do want to root for the underdog. Whether it's Google's Android or Palm's webOS, the smartphone industry could really use a David to the iPhone's Goliath to promote competition and better products all around.